Tag: art

Renowned Japanese artist Hitoshi Ariga revealed on his deviantART page that he had a hand in some of the design work in Pokemon X & Y. Specifically, he had designed these Pokemon:

Pangoro

Inkay

Malamar

Honedge

Doublade

Aegislash

Tyrunt

Tyrantrum

Amaura

Aurorus

Hitoshi Ariga has worked on numerous video games and manga works and is most famous for his contributions to the Rockman manga series (Mega Man in the west). He also did some illustrations for the Pokemon trading card game. What do you think of his contributions to Pokemon X & Y?

“I’ve actually been doing video game work for quite a while now (over two decades), including projects for things like PCE, MD, and SFC. Apparently the Pokemon art director, Sugimori, had taken notice of some of my past work and that’s why he asked me if I’d be interested in doing some design work for Pokemon XY.

So in some ways, designing Pokemon for XY was like an extension of my days of drawing monsters for “ActRaiser 2″ and “Beyond Oasis”. I am a Pokemon Trainer as well as an illustrator, so needless to say I was incredibly honored and pleased to have this opportunity.

Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata was asked recently whether he believed that Nintendo was making ‘pieces of art’. Surprisingly, his response was as follows:

“It’s not like we are making pieces of art, the point is to make a product that resonates with and is accepted by customers.”

Now it makes perfect sense that his answer would highlight Nintendo’s concentration on the consumer as its main goal, but interestingly, Iwata appears to disagree that Nintendo’s games should be considered art. Whether or not games are art may be an abstract question, but it’s a question that won’t stop being asked anytime soon.

What do you all think? Do titles like Zelda The Windwaker and Skyward Sword deserve to be called art? If so, what makes a game qualify as art and another not? Sound off in the comments!

It’s not everyday you see the original 151 Pokémon re-imagined by 151 different artistic visions, but that is just what is happening at an art gallery in California this month. Rare Candy: The Pokémon Gallery is a portrayal of unique artistic talent representing the first generation of Pokemon, and it’s all for charity.

The event, which is taking place at Umpqua Bank, San José, until May 17, is looking to raise money for charity by auctioning off 151 pieces of individual, hand-drawn art. Inspired by the first generation of Pokémon, Peter Le and Amy Kim decided to launch a fun art gallery dedicated to their childhood nostalgia. With the help of their friends and a University Animation and Illustration programme, they launched a bigger and better art gallery than they had previously imagined, and decided to send 100 per cent of the profits to their chosen charity, Canines for Disabled Kids – a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of deaf and physically disabled children by partnering them up with trained service dogs.

All 151 artists who took part in the event were randomly assigned one Pokémon, where they could draw, paint and envision it any way they wished. To see the art gallery, or to bid on an art piece, you can visit their website. For more information on the event, check out their Facebook page, or to find out more about their chosen charity, you can do so at www.caninesforkids.org.

Nathan Shields, an illustrator, math teacher and pancake artist, made Nintendo-themed pancakes. Shields yesterday posted the photo above onto his blog. The photo is of six Nintendo characters – Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Yoshi and Fox – in their pancake forms. To view more of Shields’ pancake art, head on over to his blog at Saipancakes.

Super Mario Bros. U was just announced along with a new trailer for the game. The backgrounds shown in the trailer have so much detail and clearly take advantage of Wii U’s hardware. This particular background from Mario’s new game looks similar to Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic painting, “The Starry Night.” What do you think?

Journey developer and thatgamecompany co-founder Jenova Chen has told online publication Venture Beat that PlayStation 3 owners have a greater appreciation of art than both Wii and Xbox 360 owners. Chen then went on to elaborate his claim by stating that Sony has more artistic and adult-focussed taste.

“The player who owns a PlayStation 3 is more likely to be interested in artistic games compared to Wii and Xbox 360.”

“Sony has a more artistic and adult-focused taste. They care about how grown-ups feel toward their games.”